produits de la mer - n°200 - Avril-mai 2020 - 15

Actu ❘ INFOS & DÉCRYPTAGES

Corona virus: containment

and supply obligation

uesday 17th of March: at noon, France
enters an unprecedented and historic
period of containment which is to last
at least a fortnight as a response to the
international epidemic of the corona virus
Covid-19.
In the morning, FranceAgrimer brought
together the entire seafood industry in
order to outline the direct consequences
of the global economic slowdown already
caused by the pandemic. "The essential point was to stress the importance of
maintaining activity within the industry,"
says Monique Tran, from FranceAgrimer.
The food sector remains a priority and we
have to take responsibility for the supply,
particularly of fresh seafood."
In fact, after the massive interventions
to compensate for the losses due to the
closure of school canteens (with the cessation of school classes) and restaurants,
ordered without warning by the government on Saturday 16th of March, producer organisations stopped their support. And the boats are increasingly
remaining in ports.
As for the wholesale and retail trade,
they are proceeding in a random fashion.
"The lay-off for operational reasons
will help us to get through this", hopes
Stéphane Fayet from Auvergne Marée. On
social networks, Mericq has announced its
decision to stop its activities. Transgourmet
says that the company will remain open
and ProcSea informs that exchanges will
continue on the net.
"The demand from supermarkets is
very high," points out Jean Pierre Gonda,
Chairman of Lerøy France. "And we have
a lot of fish at our disposal since other
markets refuse them. The interruption
of flights is closing the Asian market in
particular". At the beginning of the line,
salmon production is not a problem and
exports are on the rise again after the drop

◗ The fishing
activity
is slowing down
while the food
industry is
mobilizing like
never before to
respond to the
health crisis.

in exports to China. "The Norwegian seafood industry plays a very important role in
the food supply chain, both in Norway and
worldwide," declares Norwegian Minister
of Fisheries Odd Emil Ingebrigtsen.
In France, all stakeholders in the transport of goods and logistics sector are
mobilising to ensure the continuity of a
sector that has become strategic, while
calling on the government to take action
in order to facilitate their tasks : schedule,
protection and catering for the staff.
"There are and will be quantities to sell,
even at low prices," continues Jean-Pierre
Gonda. "We will be fine, but others will
not recover because fish is currently being
sold off very cheaply. Fresh white fish, on
the other hand, like cod, is completely at a
standstill. In Norway, our boats supply the
frozen sector."
In this specific sector, Alexandre
Bonneau of the SNCE believes that "problems arose for our members a month
ago, when imports, which are still essen-

tial from China for white fish in particular, raised difficulties at the borders with
regard to the original documents, as
the Chinese industry was disorganised.
However, the DGAL has authorised derogations and today, rather than production problems, the question is about storage requirements, since consumption is
falling. We also have requests from fresh
fish producers who are wondering about
health and labelling requirements in the
event that they freeze raw material in
order to reprocess it later on."
On the canning factories side, it is not
the time for communication, but it seems
that if consumers rush to stock up on
canned food, production lines are not
impacted. It is therefore above all a question of mobilising around continuity plans,
in terms of staff and raw materials.
When a land pangolin collides with the
international aquatic industry...
Dominique GUILLOT

D.G.

The pandemic has not spared the seafood
industry, which was already looking for a new
impetus in mid-March.

A market in Rennes in the age of coronavirus.

PRODUITS DE LA MER N°200 AVRIL-MAI 2020

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produits de la mer - n°200 - Avril-mai 2020

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